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Chera family SPAC is back on the hunt

Crown Proptech Acquisitions plans to seek another target to take public, pending shareholder vote

From left: Crown Proptech Acquisitions' Richard Chera, CIIG Partners' Gavin Cuneo and Michael Minnick (Getty, CIIG Partners)
From left: Crown Proptech Acquisitions' Richard Chera, CIIG Partners' Gavin Cuneo and Michael Minnick (Getty, CIIG Partners)

The Chera family, one of New York’s biggest retail landlords, has renewed its plan to take a tech-oriented real estate company public through a merger with a blank-check company — months after its first attempt fell flat.

Crown Proptech Acquisitions, a special-purpose acquisition company formed two years ago by Richard Chera, disclosed Tuesday in regulatory filings that it intends to “continue evaluating business combination opportunities” and that its board has appointed Gavin Cuneo and Michael Minnick of CIIG Capital Partners, another SPAC sponsor, as its co-CEOs. Chera has resigned from that post but will remain a director of the company, the filings show.

Renewed interest in pursuing a merger could be interpreted as a sign of confidence about the prospects of a deal despite the market’s recent skepticism of SPACs, according to a person familiar with the filings.

In December, CIIG Capital closed a SPAC merger with U.K.-based electric-scooter maker Zapp in a deal similar in size to the $280 million that Crown Proptech has in its coffers. CIIG is an investor in Crown Proptech, according to regulatory filings. Crown Proptech shareholders must vote to extend a Feb. 11 deadline to merge with another firm or the SPAC will dissolve and shareholders’ investments will be returned.

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The filings come five months after Crown Proptech failed to merge with its first target, building card-swipe and keyless-entry firm Brivo, after the Chera family failed to drum up enough money to secure additional investments. Crown accused Brivo of violating the terms of the deal and Brivo accused Crown of trying to renegotiate.

The parties have since settled their dispute, and Brivo secured a $75 million loan from California-based Runway Growth Capital in November. Crown Proptech formally ended its pursuit of Brivo on Jan. 13, according to regulatory filings.

Time has not been kind to SPACs. Scott Rechler’s RXR Realty recently pulled the plug on its $345 million proptech investment vehicle, and another by Sam Zell also fizzled out. The New York Times reported that SPACs raised $160 billion in 2021, but only $10 billion in the first quarter of last year.

SPACs surged in prominence during an era of cheap borrowing during the pandemic that followed high-profile failures of traditional initial public offerings by companies including WeWork.

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Crown AcquisitionsProptechSPACStartupsTechnology